The suspects were arrested during a joint operation by men of the Nigeria Police Force and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Bauchi State Commands as confirmed by the Police Public Relations Officer, (PPRO) in the state, Kamal Datti Abubakar.
He disclosed that already the Police had charged 37 of the suspects to court stating that, “Although we gathered through intelligence reports that the suspects were homosexuals, we did not charge them to court as homosexuals or lesbians since we did not catch them in the act. But we charged them for being public nuisance since they were arrested at a birthday party.”
Datti Abubakar reiterated the commitment of the police to protect lives and property of residents calling on members of the public to volunteer useful information to the Police.
While confirming the development, Bauchi State Commissioner for Religious Affairs, Alhaji Ado Zigau, said that the suspects were arrested based on intelligence reports gathered by security operatives.
ALSO READ: Buhari’s integrity claim a fraud ― Lamido
He said, “Intelligence reports revealed that some lesbians and homosexuals planned a gathering at the Federal Secretariat Conference Hall. Security operatives were mobilised to the scene and they arrested quite a number of the suspects. Each security team arrested some suspects and took them to their office for interrogation.”
Meanwhile the state Command of the NSCDC paraded four of the suspects under the supervision of the Public Relations Officer of the Corps, DSC Garkuwa Adamu who said that, “On September 1, 2018, intelligence information revealed that some group of youths suspected to be homosexuals were having a meeting at the Federal Secretariat and we swung into action and arrested four suspects.”
He said that, “The suspects are Abubakar Adamu, 18; Usman Abubakar, 20; Dalhatu Hassan, 19; and Mukhtar Mohammed, 20. We recovered three Jincheng motorcycles, one Haojue ladies motorcycle, one generator, three birthday cakes, four GSM phones and other souvenirs during the operation.”
One of the suspects, Abubakar Adamu, denied being a gay saying that, “We are not gay; we don’t have lesbians among us. I organised a birthday party and invited my friends. I sat with a female friend when I was arrested. I am a tailor and we followed due process and applied to use the Federal Secretariat Conference Hall, which they gave us.”
Abubakar Adamu added that, “After we finished the birthday party, security operatives came in and arrested us. But we are not homosexuals and we don’t belong to any association.”
When asked how he got money to organise the birthday, he said, “I am a tailor. My customers pay me between N400 and N2,500. My friends contributed some of the items. I have learnt my lesson and I will not organise a birthday party again.”
and then